Judge sentences chiropractor Joseph Wagner to 15-year term

Wednesday

Nov 28, 2012 at 12:11 PM

Former Daytona Beach chiropractor Joseph Wagner — convicted earlier this year of health care fraud and other offenses – was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.

ORLANDO — Former Daytona Beach chiropractor Joseph Wagner — convicted earlier this year of health care fraud and other offenses – was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison Wednesday morning. Despite pleas for leniency from Wagner's attorney and Wagner's older sister, U.S. District Judge G. Kendall Sharp was unmoved, saying Wagner had defrauded dozens of health insurance providers and caused at least 13 of his patients to overdose. "This defendant completely relegated the trust he had as a physician," Sharp said after he sentenced Wagner. "Ninety-nine percent of physicians are fine doctors, and (then) we get a few that are willing to defraud (their clients)." The jurist also ordered Wagner to pay more than $2 million in restitution to his victims. The 63-year-old is expected to serve most of the 15 years, but could get 54 days a year shaved off the term for good behavior, said U.S. Attorney spokeswoman Amy Filjones. That means Wagner will probably serve about 13 years. The prison stint was probably no surprise to Wagner, who relinquished his license to practice this past December. As he waited for his turn in front of the judge, Wagner turned to look at four of his five children who were in the courtroom — including Volusia County Councilman Josh Wagner. The elder Wagner then frowned and quickly dragged his index finger across his neck, as if to prepare them for a bad outcome. Looking gaunt in a navy blue Orange County jail uniform, Wagner wept on the stand when Sharp asked him if he had anything to say. "I made a very bad, cataclysmal medical mistake," Wagner said. "I am truly sorry for injuring people. That's all I can say." His crying made parts of Wagner's statement unintelligible. Though most was unclear, the word "greed" could be heard during his testimony. Federal prosecutors said Wagner worked with five doctors in a plan where the physicians and Wagner split the money they collected from defrauding 57 insurance companies, as well as Medicare and Medicaid. The judge agreed, calling it "a sophisticated scheme." Last August, Wagner's clinic on North Ridgewood Avenue in Daytona Beach was raided by the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement after former patients of the chiropractor reported he was dispensing pain pills and charging insurance companies for treatment he never administered. The agents were seeking any evidence that would show Wagner was prescribing controlled substances — specifically Xanax and Lortab — and defrauding insurance companies, according to a criminal complaint filed in May. FBI investigators also said in an indictment in late June that Wagner dispensed 2,609 pills using the identifications of "medical doctors," most notably Dr. John Peter Christensen of West Palm Beach, whose medical license was suspended. The names of the other four doctors have never been provided by investigators. Christensen, who was not in court, said in a telephone interview he has seen no movement in his case. He said his lawyer went to the U.S. Attorney's Office and was told, "When we want to pick him up, we'll pick him up." In addition, at least two of Wagner's patients — one of them a 17-year-old girl — said they were referred to Wagner by his son Josh Wagner, who is a personal injury attorney. The two women had gone to see Josh Wagner for legal consultation after both were involved in separate automobile accidents. The mother of the younger patient filed a complaint against the Wagners – Joseph, Josh and brother John, also a chiropractor – with the Daytona Beach Police Department because the girl was given prescriptions for pain pills, the police report shows. In May, Wagner was arrested after investigators learned he had a one-way ticket to the Dominican Republic, where they said he planned to marry a prostitute. He's been in the Orange County jail since then.In August, Joseph Wagner pleaded guilty to health care fraud, conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and money laundering, court records show. Other charges related to these three offenses were dropped. As he walked out of the courtroom Wednesday behind his siblings and his wife and newborn son, Josh Wagner — who's never spoken about his father's troubles publicly — had no comment about the prison sentence. The only family member to testify on Wagner's behalf was his older sister, Suzanne Wagner. She said she visited her brother two days ago at the Orange County jail and that he told her he had "fallen in with the wrong group of doctors in 2006." She also told the judge that her brother had been a good chiropractor up until then. Sharp was not moved. "The fact that he was a fine doctor is not the issue," the judge said. "He defrauded people and he caused people to overdose."

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